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FSCJ looks to eliminate 76 jobs, save $4.7 million

The cuts come as the interim president tries to fill budget shortfall.

Florida State College at Jacksonville wants to slice 76 positions off its payroll for the 2013-14 school year, officials said Wednesday.

If FSCJ’s board approves those cuts next month, interim President Will Holcombe said it would save the college $4.7 million and help balance the upcoming budget.

“This has been a difficult process because it’s a reduction budget,” Holcombe said during a board workshop Wednesday. “Last year this board approved a budget that was out of balance, $10 million out of balance.”

Holcombe has said he would make the necessary cuts.

Of the 76 proposed eliminations, 55 are for people working that job. The remaining 21 are open positions that would not be filled.

FSCJ has notified the 55 people of their pending departure, said Christine Arab, the college’s human resources vice president.

Arab said most of the positions are in enrollment services and inside a special group of academic advisers who focused on first-year students who need remediation. Also gone would be employees who worked for the SIRIUS online textbook program, which was a pet project of former President Steve Wallace and his executive vice president, Don Green.

Some of the 21 vacant positions include faculty spots, Arab said.

Employees’ last day would be June 30. After that, their severance package is four months of health coverage and two more paychecks.

“Some people have difficult personal circumstances that this will make tougher,” Arab said. “Some people have had their dreams dashed. But you have to respect their feelings and respect that they disagree with this being the right thing to do.”

She said they can apply for other jobs throughout FSCJ and will get an interview.

A team of Holcombe’s cabinet — including the campus presidents and the top administrators — decided which positions would be cut. Arab said the team focused on positions that were no longer serving students at a high level and vacant positions that they felt were unnecessary going forward.

Steve Bowers, FSCJ’s vice president of administrative services, said the goal was to plug a $9 million projected budget hole. Cutting $4.7 million in positions and reducing every department’s budget by $4 million will complete the task, Bowers said.

Part of the reason FSCJ is facing the shortfall is because of declining enrollment. The college’s forecasters say, as the local economy rebounds, people in Duval and Nassau counties are ditching higher education and going back to work.

After Bowers and Arab explained the budget and the proposed cuts, most of the FSCJ board members were mum.

However, vice chairman Bruce Barcelo said he was pleased with the budget, and board member Suanne Thamm said she knows that the cuts were personal to those being effected.

“But what I appreciate about this is this is being presented positively, not in a doom and gloom,” Thamm said.

The cuts announced Wednesday represent another step Holcombe said he must take to put the college on strong financial footing. This month he also reorganized the college’s top-level administrators, dropping seven former vice presidents to lower-pay positions.